August 2020
ELECTRIC IMPULSE COMMUNICATIONS
NEWSLETTER
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HERBIE'S HINTS (named after my dad!)
My dad, Herbie, had a first cousin: Donny Ungar. Growing up in Youngstown my dad was close to his first cousin, two years his junior. Donny had a best friend growing up, Selma. Donny and Selma were in the same class starting in elementary school and remained best friends.
Herbie and Donny both went to The Ohio State University. When WWII broke out, they both enlisted. I have a photo of Donny and my dad on a street corner somewhere in Europe. Donny had a day off and he made it his mission to find my dad. And he did.
When the war was over they both returned to Youngstown. Donny introduced his cousin Herbie to his best friend, Selma. The rest is history as they say and they were married for short of 60 years. Donny was best man at my parents wedding. Donny is the first male on the right side of the photo from my parent’s wedding. My dad is in the center, my mom with veil.
Donny had three children. Ricky became a lawyer, a manager of Indie rock groups, a producer, father of Biker Mice from Mars, CEO of Marvel Studios, and a national talk show host, to name a few jobs he has had.
In July he was a guest on my zoom session. Very entertaining, he had what turned out to be one of the best pieces of advice ever. You never know where a gem will come from.
I asked him what he knew about being head of a studio? He said he could speak two languages, as an attorney he could speak the language of the “suits”. As the creator of Biker Mice, he could speak the language of the creatives.
Can you speak multiple languages in your company?
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ASK LESLIE
Stay on Your Cutting Edge
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In this brief clip I re-visit a lesson from HorseTalk: Lessons in Leadership. Lesson 95 Control Frustration addresses the value when your verbal, vocal and visual convey lack of stress. Yet from a mindset perspective, there are times to be impatient. Google CEO Sundar Pichai says it can be good to be impatient. He became CEO at age 37.
The challenge is to know when to be patient and when to be impatient.
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Lessons from the Sports World During Covid |
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1. Do Not Go Gently Into that Good Night
Poet Dylan Thomas suggested that we rage against getting older. 73 year old Elton John’s farewell tour will be at least 3 years long if it ends as scheduled. Cher’s Here We Go Again tour features her at 74 years young. Ali came out of retirement a couple of times. The last time, against Holmes, a sportswriter wrote, “Ali could not fight. He could not dance. He could not punch”.
Lesson Learned: Mike Tyson is un-retiring after 15 years to fight again at the age of 54. Madonna ruled the Super Bowl halftime when she was 53 and Diana Ross did it at 52. Both Sugar Ray Leonard and Robinson came out of retirement, both with sad results. Not every comeback is a disaster. Floyd Mayweather came out of retirement and remained undefeated. Do you want to go gently or do you want to rage against the dying of the light?
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2. If No One Claps, Is it Still a Game?
What do the NBA, professional golf, and dog shows have in common in 2020? The answer would be the absence of fans in the stands. In the very beginning, before we all learned to live in and with the pandemic, LeBron refused to play to fan-less stands. Then like all of us, he realized that life would not look the same.
Lesson Learned: Some opined that they would not watch a game without fans. When the NBA returned in the end of July, the games averaged 2-4 million viewers. More players were mic’ed for real time comments and more interviews-socially distant- were conducted. Some of these changes will become permanent. Have you thought about what changes will be permanent in your life and your business?
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3. To Bubble Wrap or Not to Bubble Wrap
Hockey is doing it. The WNBA did It. Baseball didn’t do it, and their season is in danger. The NBA is doing it and doing well so far. The IT is a “bubble": a location where players live and play and basically do not leave, to limit exposure to COVID. Without creating and requiring players to stay in the bubble, players go home to families and go out in the community and COVID spreads.
Lesson Learned: Former MLB Commissioner Bud Selig counseled current Commissioner Manfred to focus on a singular idea: finding a way to play. Manfred was consumed with not wanting to be “the guy” who cancelled the season and baseball is not playing in a bubble. Which commissioner would you be – the one who required the bubble amidst negative reaction or the one who tried everything to avoid a solution, while unpopular, would work?
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Leslie Via Zoom or In Person
October 19 -20, Rubber Division, ACS IEC: Women's Conference and Presentation Workshop
October 22 Sixth District Educational Compact
Upcoming Forum 360 Shows (w/Leslie as Moderator)
Primping for Westminster Dog Show
An area breeder and winner at Westminister Dog Show takes us behind the scenes.
Guests: Elizabeth Salewsky, Sandy the St. Bernard and Crom the Cane Corso
Creativity in the Time of a Pandemic
Educators and one innovative area company collaborate for a product that makes open schools possible.
Guests: Kim Redmond, superintendent, Kris Kargil, MRO Built, Kathy Pugh, artist and art teacher
Watch/ Listen to Forum 360:
Western Reserve Public Media, PBS-TV, PBS Fusion Channels 45 & 49 (Time Warner channel 993) - Mondays at 8 pm and Saturdays at 5:00 pm. After the show airs, you can download it here.
WONE FM 97.5 Sunday 6 am
WAKR AM 1590 Sunday, 5:00 pm, Monday 12:30 am For online streaming go to http://akronnewsnow.com/ and click Listen Live.
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I walk Benji at some point every morning. Or he walks me. Most mornings we stop at the Copley Community Park on our way to work. He is familiar with every route, every tree, and the location of every bunny he might encounter on the walk.
There are several intersections where there is a choice as to which way to go. Sometimes the choice is through the woods or not, around the lake or not, the longer walk or not.
Most walks Benji is very opinionated as to which way he wants to go. I don’t always know what goes into his thinking. I do know if it is sunny he prefers the wooded walk. If it is morning he prefers the walk where the most bunnies may be encountered.
The way he telegraphs his choice is by sitting and refusing to move. That may not sound odd to you. But Benji’s way of doing most things is not the quiet way. This is more like a sit-in. On days I have time I respect his preference.
In your organization do you listen to people at all different levels on the organizational chart?
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Final HorseTalk of 2020
Friday September 11 from 9am - 1pm EST
ONE space available.
In response to Covid-19 we are making some changes in the day to reduce concerns and increase participant’s level of comfort.
Following is our new format:
- We are reducing the day from 8 ½ hours to a 4 hour experience. The day will be from 9 -1pm. Lunch will be given to you "to-go."
- Masks will be available
- We are replacing challenges that may have enabled closer proximity with challenges that allow participants to work from a further distance should they choose.
- We are limiting the number of participants per session so spacing is easier to attain in some group challenges.
Email us at [email protected] for further information or to RSVP to one of our events.
Ask me about my 10 in 10!
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